The Japanese have traditionally projected themselves as a culturally and racially uniform society, while in reality, Japan is home to diverse minority populations. This volume identifies and explores the six principal minority groups in Japan: the Ainu, the Burakumin, the Chinese, the Koreans, the Nikkeijin and the Okinawans. After years of marginalization, many of the hidden minorities in Japan are now beginning to challenge this image by reasserting their cultural identities. Examining the ways in which the Japanese have manipulated historical events, such as Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the contributors reveal the presence of an underlying concept of Japaneseness that excludes members of these minorities. The themes addresses include the role of this ideology of race in the construction of the Japanese identity; historical memory and its suppression; contemporary labour migration to Japan; and the 300-year existence of Chinese communities on Japan.